Monday, October 8, 2012

David More BitchyEvil in Original Prometheus Draft (updated)

Hupsakeek, can you add in the Ginger Shark Kitty in place of the globe? Danke!

Oh that would have been sooooo good to see! We already know that David, the android played by Michael, was too scientifically curious for his own good. Ready to sacrifice the annoying humans as intergalactic Guinea pigs for his makerdaddy. According to this Empireonline.com article, the screenwriter John Spaihts had more malevolent intentions for David, and upon reading it, I reckon it would have spiced things up a bit!

In Empire's interview with the original screenwriter of Prometheus, Jon Spaihts - which you can check out in full here - there are a number of fascinating details about what might have been if director Ridley Scott and script doctor Damon Lindelof hadn't changed it further down the line.One particularly eye-opening revelation was the possible appearance of facehuggers, a xenomorphic beastie now so beloved you can even buy plushie versions to sling at unsuspecting housemates/fellow bus passengers/strangers at Prometheus screenings."I did have facehuggers in my original draft," says Spaights. "David, as he began to get fascinated by the science of the Engineers, doesn't deliberately contaminate Holloway with a drop of black liquid. Instead, Holloway hubristically removes his helmet in the chamber, is knocked unconscious, facehugged and wakes up not knowing what had been done to him, and stumbles back into the ship.""In my draft, he returns to his cabin, is embraced by Shaw, who is delighted to see him having feared that he had died, and the two of them make love," he goes on to say. "And it's while they're making love that he bursts and dies. So that lovemaking sequence echoed my original lovemaking sequence where he explodes! It was messy."

That said, David, as it turns out in Spaihts' vision, is much more malevolent than in the final cinematic cut - but in a very precise, scientific way."David, fascinated by these creatures, begins delaying the mission and going off the reservation on his own, essentially because he thinks he really belongs with the Engineers," Spaihts explains."They're smart enough and sophisticated enough, great enough, to be his peers. He's harboring a deep-seated contempt for his human makers. So at one point Shaw goes to stop him and David ties her up and deliberately exposes her to a facehugger. He caresses an egg open and out comes a facehugger."

Enter... Ginger Shark Kitty

"David doesn't smell like a person - his breath isn't moist - so he can handle the thing like a kitten. It doesn't want him; it's not interested. But then he exposes it to her and it goes for her like a shot. He toys with her for a bit and then lets it take her. That, in my draft, was how Shaw was implanted with the parasite that she had to remove with the medpod sequence."
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Thanks Hupsakeek! xoxo

That's right, David would ostensibly be playing with a facehugger like a little kitten, toying with Shaw as he lets it clamp around her mouth. Elsewhere in the interview, Spaihts goes on to describe the different incarnations of xenomorph badness that were considered during the film's production, including one alien with a crab-like shell. Intrigued? Check out the interview in full over here, and if this has piqued your interest in the film, Prometheus is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Yeah I'm intrigued and I finally bought a blu-ray player via amazon.com this morning, along with pre-ordering the blu-ray for Prometheus, and I tacked on The Avengers to boot! Danggit, I forgot to buy 'Shame'. No, I didn't buy it when it first came out because I wanted that in blu-ray too... and I know I don't need to explain myself as to why. Ahem!

I think David's 'attitude' was toned down a bit to set up a working relationship with Dr. Shaw in subsequent film(s). I can't imagine him torturing her like that, and them both still uniting and going off to find the Engineers. Although I like the original draft idea of David being more menacing, I think he still comes off as so in the final film, but with some 'soul' to him.

If you read extra info from the Spaihts interview link, it's interesting learning that people high up in the studio wanted signficant changes from his draft.

I've send you David and the kitten by mail. And I don't know if I read it well... but I understand that you waited to buy Shame on DVD because you want it on blue ray. The reason for that is because of HIS facehugger ??? =DBut reading about all the bonuses I think I have to consider to buy a blue ray. But another problem that occurs is "where do I find the time to watch it".

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